


in a voice so small, final breath that was drawn

by quirked_ramen



Series: the projection series [1]
Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Author projecting onto Komaeda Nagito, Gen, Hospitals, I'll try my best, Komaeda Nagito & Tsumiki Mikan Friendship, Lowercase, M/M, Medical Conditions, Rain, Recipe, Sick Komaeda Nagito, Sickness, Tags will be updated, Terminal Illness, Volunteer Hinata Hajime, lymphoma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28830594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quirked_ramen/pseuds/quirked_ramen
Summary: nagito was slowly dying, and his new volunteer by the name of hajime hinata knew this as well. so, he takes nagito on a journey of self-discovery and healing before the boy can pass
Relationships: Hinata Hajime & Komaeda Nagito, Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Komaeda Nagito & Tsumiki Mikan
Series: the projection series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150211
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	in a voice so small, final breath that was drawn

**Author's Note:**

> yes thiis wii11 be sad, but there wii11 be more chapters. ii wanted to get thiis out before the draft was de1eted so yeah, enjoy!!
> 
> oh, and iif you do try the reciipe iinc1uded iin the chapter 1et me know!!! ii wanna see how iit 1ooks

the slow, monotone beeps of the heart monitor were mocking him. the room itself was a bright white and smelt of chlorine and other cleaning chemicals he couldn’t quite put a finger on. it was like clockwork, the way the monitor beeped up and down and if it got too close to the edge of the screen or the middle a nurse rushed into his room. he truly missed going outside, if only for a minute when his diseases weren’t attacking him full throttle.

he used to think that this room was like a hotel for kings, where only the elite got to stay. he was wrong, of course, it wasn’t a throne room or a royal bedroom or even a small royal bathroom. it was just a janky, old, slightly run-down hospital room that ticked like a bomb.

now there’s something to think about. there were so many different kinds of bombs, ranging from atomic to pipe to the standard dynamite. they reminded him so much of the other boy, how his temper would swell and then burst. come to think of it, he hasn’t seen this boy in quite some time. maybe he got transferred to a different hospital, or he even died.

now there’s a sad thought. one of the only people who would even _try_ to talk to him, and he might be dead. that soured his mood enough. maybe he should think about some of the gossip he heard the nurses exchange while they took out his IV and put a fresh one in. apparently, a new doctor or nurse or volunteer - no one had specified which - was starting that monday. when is monday? he should ask a nurse!

they don’t like him though. they always spit such harsh things at him that he can barely understand, it’s sickening!

he looked around the room once again, ignoring the dangerous thoughts creeping into his mind and into central control. he doesn’t want them to take control; he’s perfectly fine right where he is right now. he sees a calendar vaguely and notices a date circled in red. monday! and according to that calendar, today was monday! time was amazing, how it can vary from every region you wander into.

~

a nurse comes into his room and jostles him awake, the first time anyone’s touched him for anything but medical treatment!

‘s-s-sorry to wake you up, but you have a guest… i’m sorry! i forgot something!’ the nurse runs off out of the room. he can vaguely hear crying from beyond the door, but he’s sure he’s making that up. mikan is just such a sad girl sometimes, she cries out of nowhere and because of nothing.

instead of focusing on his missing friend, he turns his attention to the newly-arrived guest. he wasn’t very tall, a couple of inches or so shorter than himself, and almost had a caramel color to his hair. he was wearing gloves, oddly enough, but was otherwise dressed quite normally to his standards.

‘are you going to stand there, or are you going to make me get up?’ he spoke. this seemed to shake that boy out of a daze, and he walked into the room and sat in the chair beside him. 

‘my name’s hajime hinata, and i’m a volunteer here at this hospital. it’s nice to meet you..?’

‘nagito komaeda. nice to meet you too, hinata.’ even after giving a smile, the hinata boy didn’t seem to calm down. it’s almost as if- ah. he’d deduced the reason why the hinata boy was afraid of him.

‘did a nurse with blonde hair in pigtails tell you i’m contagious, by any chance? she’s lying, by the way. it’s quite hard to spread lymphoma without access to your veins. it’s blood cancer, after all,’ the boy blinked, before slightly slouching his shoulders more. It seemed the hinata boy cleared him, mentally.

~

the pair, one like icarus and the other akin to apollo sat idly. they waited for an undetermined amount of time before continuing to begin a chat about what the weather was like from what both hinata and him could see from outside the small, circle window he was provided.

altostratus clouds covered towa city’s sky, not a single ray of sunlight tried to shine through the thick clouds. unsurprisingly, it was windy, with the ocean breeze cooling the already chilled city. the wind sang a song of sorrow and remorse as it floated through the city. it mourned a soul that had been weighed wrong by the gods and was wrongfully stricken with illness.

‘i saw this movie last weekend. it had a pretty good story, and the characters were pretty cool too. it was about a group of students getting stuck in a school and having to kill each other,’ hinata says, looking up from his partially-peeled orange. he had gotten it from the fruit basket that mikan’s girlfriend had gifted him, but since he couldn’t really move, it was pushed aside to make room for medical supplies.

‘sounds cool. wish i could see it,’ he had absentmindedly. it had been months since they moved him to this tiny isolated room, and ever since then, they haven’t turned on the tv in the corner. hinata’s eyebrows skewed together before he opened his mouth once more.

‘they don’t let you watch anything?’

‘more like no one wants to touch the tv. i’d do it myself but-’ he wriggled his legs, their jelly-like consistency being one he’s familiar with, ‘it’s hard to move.’

‘...’

‘..when do you get out of the hospital?’ hinata questioned. when _would_ he get out of the hospital? he should ask mikan the next time he sees her. ‘if you don’t know, we could probably sneak you out of here, me and mikan. she could cause a distraction while you and i make a break for it,’ hinata’s clever, he’ll give him that. he nods along with the plan, if only to get himself out of his imprisonment.

~

the plan went off without a hitch. mikan fell and caused a small traffic jam, which in turn allowed hinata to grab a wheelchair and roll him out of the building. It felt almost anticlimactic, facing the beige building from the outside for the first time in years and yet not caring that he’s free. it’s as if you spent weeks and months hyping up a trip to a young kid, only to take them to a place they might not enjoy, like a slaughterhouse or a museum for dead people.

was there something he was missing? surely not, mikan always brought him stories of people from outside of the hospital, of how weddings and funerals went, but since he doesn’t know anyone here it just slightly… feels odd to him. like he’s a videogame character waiting for the player to make a move, or an extra on a film set who’s only line is to yell about the temperature. he feels odd, in short.

hinata sniffs out a hotdog stand - how and why they have these is a mystery to him - and together they sit by a duck pond. the meat has a weird rubbery texture to it, and tastes of nothing particular. it’s a ghost meat, he notes as he finishes the last bite he had left. he dusted his hands off on the pants hinata lent him and said boy pushed him around, looking for something fun to do with the patient.

hinata eventually decides to take him to his apartment, not for anything weird, but so that they can cook new and different recipes. hinata scrolls on his phone, before pulling up the recipes for firecracker chicken and one for victoria sponge cake. he noticed that they didn’t have all of the ingredients needed for making both recipes, so he took him to the grocery store.

the grocery store, owned by a friend of hinata’s, stood below an apartment building and cast a neon light onto the sidewalk. the pair went up and down the isles, collecting the chicken breasts, buffalo hot sauce, lemons, strawberries, and whipped cream. the clack of hinata’s shoes against the tile floor created a beautiful sound. the sound itself was that impressive, it was the way it slightly echoed in the building that made him think about it in wonder.

they collected their purchases, with hinata stopping for a bit to talk to the boy who ran the store, before they continued onward toward hinata’s home. They briefly stopped once more when he saw a small gathering of forget-me-nots, and picked himself a bunch. the flowers symbolized remembrance and luck, which was what he mainly thought of when he pictured hinata. 

they reached their destination and began to prepare the counter for the sponge cake. 

_~_

_FOR THE GENOISE SPONGE_

_3/4 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour (100 gms)_

_Pinch of salt if using unsalted butter_

_1/4 cup butter (55 gms)_

_4 eggs, at room temperature_

_1/2 cup caster sugar (100 gms)_

_1 and 1/2 tsps vanilla extract_

_Zest of 1 Indian lemon (about 1/2 tsp)_

_FOR THE STRAWBERRIES_

_350 gms strawberries (plus extra for decoration)_

_1 tbsp caster sugar_

_FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM_

_1/3 cup chilled whipping cream (80 ml)_

_1/4 tsp vanilla extract_

_2 tbsps caster sugar_

_~_

he tried to help as much as he could by lining the 8-inch cake pan with parchment and turning the oven to 170°C. Hinata pulled out the flour and salt, and had him sift ¾ cups of the flour and a pinch of salt into a large-ish mixing bowl. hinata took over the next part, bringing a little bit of water in a saucepan to a simmer and creating a double boiler, which four eggs, ½ cups sugar, 1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract, and zest of one of the lemons went into.

_~_

_Line the base of an 8 inch springform tin with non-stick baking paper_

_Preheat the oven to 170 C_

_Sift the flour (and salt, if using) three times and set aside_

_Add a little water to a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in a mixing bowl that fits neatly over the saucepan. Bring the heat down to low and place the bowl over the saucepan. Using a balloon whisk, whisk continuously for 5 to 7 minutes until the mixture is slightly warm, frothy and paler_

_Pour this warm mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture has tripled in volume, thickened and leaves ribbons when you lift the whisk up_

_Add half of the sifted flour to the bowl and fold it in using a silicone spatula. Gently take your spatula to the bottom of the bowl, bring it up cutting through the airy batter and repeat. Add the remaining flour and do the same_

_Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and once again fold gently but quickly to combine so that the butter doesn't settle at the bottom. Make sure your spatula goes right to the base of the bowl to get it all folded in_

_Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until browned on top and when you press the surface lightly, it should spring back_

_Let the cake cool completely in the pan at room temperature_

_Rinse the strawberries, then cut off the stems and chop them into pieces. Add them to a saucepan with the sugar and place the mixture on low heat. The sugar will melt, the juices will release and the compote will bubble and darken, thickening slowly as the berries break down and become jammy. This takes about 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the berries_

_Finally, whip the cream, vanilla and sugar together with a hand mixer on high speed until fairly stiff peaks forms, 3 to 4 minutes. Place in the fridge until ready to use_

_When ready to assemble the Victoria sponge, run a sharp knife around the edges and remove the sides of the cake pan. Use the paper to lift the cake, flip it gently and peel off the paper. Slice the cake carefully into two layers with a long sharp knife. Place the bottom half on a platter or cake stand_

_Spread all the compote on this half, followed by the whipped cream. Place the top half on it and the excess will ooze out of the sides_

_Place the cake in the fridge for an hour to let the cream firm up and for the sponge to absorb some of the moisture so the layers stick and the cake is easier to slice. When ready to serve, decorate the top with strawberries and use a sharp knife to cut the cake_

_Store the cake in the fridge at all times, for 3 to 4 days at the most._

_~_

he watched as hinata danced around the kitchen like a ballet performer, the way his legs seemed to move around the small area as if it were made of ice. he watched in amazement as the other boy crafted the batter for the sponge cake and prepared the chicken for the other recipe.

a small thump shook him from his picturesque wonderland, causing him to look over at the opposite direction, where a window was placed. another thump came from that direction, then another, and so it was like a showerhead on high against the window. he wheeled himself over to it. he tilted his head having not seen or heard rain in quite a while. in the reflection he could see hinata walking up behind him.

‘it’s beautiful,’ he said. back in the hospital, the rain was blocked from hitting his window by a covering above it, so he took this moment to carefully touch the glass. it was cool to the touch and left his fingers with a weird feeling on them, almost as if he were outside, in the rain.

‘do you want to go outside?’ hinata asked. he weighed the pros and cons before deciding to nod his head.

~

_The Pros:_

_\- Rain_

_\- Soft_

_\- New-ish feeling_

_The Cons:_

_\- Get wet_

_\- Get sick_

_\- Dry hair_

~

hinata took control of the wheelchair and wheeled him out of the apartment and into the elevator. with a small ding, they arrived at the lobby, which housed the receptionist (who they waved at - they aren’t complete criminals) before heading outside of the main doors. the cooling breeze that came with the rain danced around the pair, harsh yet soft, almost like it was moving to the tempo of the rain.

he allowed the drops to race down his face like horses taking off after being released by a gate. hinata moved him to a bench, so that they could both sit down. he carefully leaned his head onto hinata's shoulder before closing his eyes and taking a small nap in the rain.

**Author's Note:**

> discord: korekiyo#0898  
> tumblr: lullaby-for-the-ghosts
> 
> come chat!!


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